Woman to Man Essay Questions

How does the poem portray the human relationships that lead to the creation of new life?

Though the speaker is a particular woman addressing her partner, the poem speaks in a general way about the nature of human relationships. These relationships, particularly the ties that lead to the creation of new life, are portrayed as miraculous instances of unity. There is a divine quality infused into the description of family ties in the poem, particularly with the line "This is the maker and the made." Within the human relationships portrayed in the poem, multiple things that seem contradictory can be true at the same time. Several lines allude to this, for example: "This is our hunter and our chase." Another reads, "this is the question and reply." There is a kind of willful ignorance involved in having relationships that lead to new life, as expressed in the line, "the blind head butting at the dark." But the process of life is given its own intelligence in the poem; it is the drive that brings people together to create new life.

How does the poem's form relate to its content?

"Woman to Man" is composed of four quintets written in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ABCAA. The overall pattern creates a regular rhythm that resembles the natural cadence of everyday speech. One can read a line written in iambic tetrameter without having to pause for breath. This provides a relaxed transition between lines in "Woman to Man," and also helps naturalize the process of creating life. These formal qualities suggest that though the creation of life is partly miraculous, there is also an order and structure to it. For example, the fertilized egg is able to foresee "the unimagined light," which demonstrates a kind of inherent intelligence. The child is created from the bodies of the parents: "the precise crystals" of their eyes.

What is the significance of the last line?

The last line of the poem reads, "Oh hold me, for I am afraid." This is a tonal and linguistic shift from what comes before it. Here, the labor of birth presumably has begun. Whereas earlier in the poem the speaker makes grand statements about the miraculous nature of life that connects all human beings, she now turns to her own primal fear. This serves to personalize the poem, and it also evokes the birth without any further description.